So I was pretty excited to finally have hard mode. Downloaded it straight away, fired up DD, just to find I must start from the beginning? Talk about a kick in the teeth.

Right now, I'm at Everfall, with no intentions of finishing to NG+ or starting again. I know I'll keep my stats and items and such, but that will still mean I'll have to do all that time consuming traveling to get to the Everfall, Ur-Dragon, etc., again, right?

So what should I do? Is Hard Mode worth starting over for? How much harder is it? Are ALL the quests I've finished back, or just the ones for the story? Would Madeleine still have the gold idol? I don't want to lose 150 hours of playtime for nothing...

So I was pretty excited to finally have hard mode. Downloaded it straight away, fired up DD, just to find I must start from the beginning? Talk about a kick in the teeth.

Right now, I'm at Everfall, with no intentions of finishing to NG+ or starting again. I know I'll keep my stats and items and such, but that will still mean I'll have to do all that time consuming traveling to get to the Everfall, Ur-Dragon, etc., again, right?

So what should I do? Is Hard Mode worth starting over for? How much harder is it? Are ALL the quests I've finished back, or just the ones for the story? Would Madeleine still have the gold idol? I don't want to lose 150 hours of playtime for nothing...

You keep all of your items and equipment. Every quest can be done again, but if you gave Madeline or caxton a gold idol last time, their items for sale will remain the same. The game will remember that you successfully completed npc quests (so for the Hero trophy you can just redo any that you failed). If you're trying to get all of the trophies, the Ever Turning Wheel requires you to complete NG+ (and thus starting a second NG+ if you want the Everfall opened again). The Ur dragon can be summoned on the beach of Cassardis at any time, you don't need the Everfall to find him.

If you're simply looking for more of a challenge there is a piece of armor that does the EXACT same thing as hard mode, which just increases your stamina consumption and enemy damage input. Been saying this for the longest for gamers who are really looking for a new challenge, but even then it's still the same fights, just instead of a 10 min battle now it takes you 20.